Steampunk Santa, by Marc Vun Kannon

Steampunk Santa, by Marc Vun Kannon, was purchased via Amazon.com.

Description: (From Amazon)

Tomparasil is a very forward-thinking elf, embracing the technology of the 19th-century world. When Santa decides to go global, Tom decides his time has come. But there are those in the workshop who would rather he stayed in the boiler room where he belongs.

Overall:  5 Stars

Plot/Storyline/Characters: 5 Stars

This was my second Steampunk experience ever, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This short story was a fun romp. It’s hard to go wrong with Santa and the elves. The story moved along quickly and I rooted for Tom and Flarbignarg’s friendship to become solid, and it did. I loved the way the story unfolded and Santa was very fair in the end.

Tomparasil was a great main character, and I could see him working away in my mind’s eye.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

The language and setting of the story melded into a well-told whole. The dialog was appropriate and helped the characters come alive.

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From the author, Marc Vun Kannon:

How did you come up with the title?

 Shortly before Christmas last year (October, in this case), my publisher asked for Steampunk stories. Or holiday stories. I asked her if she would like a steampunk holiday story. Her question gave me the idea for a story about Santa’s elves competing to make him a flying sleigh. I called it Steampunk Santa simply as a working title, but it does get the point across, and she decided she liked it.
How long have you been writing?

 For the last fifteen years or so. I was attacked by a pair of dreams that became my first novel while I was a graduate student. That first book took many years to write, in part because the computer it was on crashed and I had to rewrite the whole thing. No loss, believe me, that first version was really bad. Since then it seems I can’t cross the street without getting an idea for a new story.
What authors have inspired you? Lois McMaster Bujold, especially her book The Curse of Chalion; Dave Duncan, especially his Seventh Sword trilogy; Lawrence Watt-Evans, especially The Misenchanted Sword; C. Dale Brittain, author of the Yurt series, one of the first I remember where priests and wizards did not automatically hate each other. I have a number that were negative examples, but I won’t list any titles in that regard. In general, authors who write strong characters, good people doing the things that need to be done, without ambition.
Where did you get the idea for the novel?

Steampunk usually translates as Victorian-Era steam technology, and that was about the time Santa ‘took off’ as a global archetype. My publisher’s question inspired me to combine the two into a story of one elf’s attempt to build a sleigh for Santa using the new technology rather than traditional elfin magic. The bases of Steampunk Santa are the old Rankin-Bass Christmas specials, especially Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. As I was writing it I was changing voices, from the genial narrator to a variety of squeaky-voiced elves. The original idea, unfortunately, is not the finished product. As often happens with my stories, it did what it wanted and grew as I wrote it, morphing into something quite different.
Who is your favorite character?

Without a doubt it has to be Tomparasil, the tech elf, although his counterpart Flarbignarg grew on us both.

I am, in some particular order, a husband, a father, a full-time (computer) bug hunter, part-time book seller, and a part-time author. I’d like to be a full-time author.

Steampunk Santa, by Marc Vun Kannon